Environment Canada says snow in the forecast for Vancouver Island

The mild winter weather experienced so far on Vancouver Island is set to change this week as Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement.

Many people were undoubtedly wondering about the potential for a white Christmas this year and it’s looking a lot more likely than it was one week ago.

The special weather statement is for Greater Victoria, eastern and inland areas of Vancouver Island as the national weather service is expecting more wintry weather over the south coast this week. That could include snow falling on higher terrains for Tuesday and more flurries possibly on Thursday, along with much colder temperatures this weekend.

According to Environment Canada, a deepening low-pressure system will track across northern Washington State, near the B.C. border. This will combine with moisture in the Pacific and cool easterly winds near the surface to bring a mix of rain and snow beginning Monday night.

However, snowfall amounts will vary significantly throughout the regions, especially those communities sitting at a higher elevation.

It’s expected that Victoria and the eastern coastline will see the most snow on Tuesday, along with strong easterly winds. Higher elevation passes like the Malahat and the Hump (between Port Alberni and the west coast communities) are also expected to see significant accumulations of snow with at least 5-10 cm expected to fall over the next few days.

The good news for drivers is forecasters are calling for this precipitation to ease on Tuesday night, with much of the snowfall to melt on Wednesday. In its place will be much colder air settling over the area on Thursday and through the rest of the week with temperatures dropping down to minus 5 or 10 degrees across the south coast on Saturday and daytime highs hovering right around the freezing mark.